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Tuesday, Jan. 29 – Community Loses Prominent Citizen

Hospice at the Lake in Salisbury. Born in Berlin, he was the son of the late
Charles H. and Violet Davis Coates.
He was a graduate of The Mercersburg Academy, Washington & Lee University
and the Washington & Lee University School of Law in Lexington, VA.
He was the founder of the Berlin Little League and the founder of organized
football in Worcester County. He was a former Head Coach of the Worcester
Country School High School baseball team, former director of the Eastern
Shore Baseball Hall of Fame, Inc. In 1996 he received the Berlin Award for
his past work with the football and baseball programs for Northern Worcester
County.
He was a member of the Ocean City Golf and Yacht Club, life member and past
President of the Berlin Lions Club; the first State Director of the
Berlin-Ocean City Jaycees; the recipient of the Berlin-Ocean City
Outstanding Service Award. He was a member of Boumi Temple and Evergreen
Lodge 153 A.F. & A.M., Ocean City Shrine Club since 1979 and a member and
former Vestryman of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
Coates was a former State’s Attorney for Worcester County, a former
County Attorney for Worcester County, former panel member of the Attorney
Grievance Commission, former member of the Maryland State Bar Association
Judicial Selection Commission. He was Past President of the Worcester County
Bar Association and also served on the Judicial Nominating Committee for the
First Judicial Circuit. He was local counsel for United States Land Company
and the Boise Cascade Corp. And handled the entire acquisition of and the
development of the community of Ocean Pines.
He is survived by his wife Jane R. Coates; three sons Raymond D. Coates, Jr.
and his wife Leslie of Berlin, B. Randall Coates and his wife Ann of Snow
Hill and Thomas K. Coates and his wife Cathi of Berlin; a daughter Sandra
Coates West and her husband Dan of Berlin; and eight grandchildren, Lindsey,
Lauren and Bryan Coates, Alex, Ryan, and Katie West, and Christian and
Austin Coates. Mr. Coates was preceded in death by a brother Charles P.
Coates.
A funeral service will be held on Thursday, Jan. 31, 2008 at 11 a.m. at
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Berlin. Interment will be in St. Paul’s
Churchyard. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to Worcester County
Developmental Center, Building Fund, Attn: June Walker, 8545 Newark Rd.,
Newark, MD 21841 or to Coastal Hospice at the Lake, PO Box 1733, Salisbury,
MD 21802. Arrangements are being handled by the Burbage Funeral Home in
Berlin.